This was the reason for the tariffs. An excuse to raise prices and keep them high.

America is so screwed.

Don’t worry it won’t stay bad for long … it’s going to get worse.

America: “… Fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.” … (weird George Bush snickering)

What’s more terrifying when we realize what’s behind emerging AGI?

HAL 9000 … cold, practical, logical, calculating, confident

Barclay … unsure, goofy, secretive, sexually curious, wants to be your friend (at all cost)

Imagine Peyo deciding to drop a 20 lb load as he’s visiting you in your final hours

And everyone everywhere just takes it for granted that someone has backed up things.

And no one realizes that things are lost until they’re gone

Who says this guy supports any of this crap?

He’s just a good business man who knows how to sell easy product to a hungry audience.

This guy is a genius.

But then you’d have to buy a third gun to protect you from the second one

In the 70s and 80s parents were still able to be at home to make actual food for their children.

Since then, everyone is always on the run and everyone always relies on the cheapest fastest food that is available … ultra processed foods you can just pop in a microwave, heat and eat … or just plain old take out … and if you can’t afford decent take out, you buy the cheapest burger and fries you can find.

Do all that for 20 years and its a guarantee that you will have digestive issues later in life.

I have one friend who had a picky kid that he and his wife never really parented or seriously watched over. They were both busy with 9-5 jobs and they just let the kid do whatever he wanted from the time he was born. From the time he was toddler, all he ever demanded was fries and chicken nuggets - nothing but fries and chicken nuggets - always. I told them it was a bad idea and that it wasn’t good for the kid but its their family and all we could was watch. When the kid turned 11, they had to remove his gall bladder because of the bad diet and the kid has never had good health since.

I swear that America has lost all it’s imagination and instead just use these movies as a guide now.

“They started without us and they’re almost done”

With anything with the US government, I always expect the worst and I’m never disappointed … often I’m surprised because they just figure out ever more creative ways to make things even worse.

Thanks for the insight … I’ve made a subtle change to my first comment to reflect what you said.

It was a poor choice of words and phrasing on my part … a lot of time I’m just off handedly commenting on things while doing something else and never think too much or too clearly about what I’m saying or commenting.

As an older man now … I do take time to gauge who I am talking to, especially young people, because I know social anxiety, being awkward and just being young makes it difficult for young people to do any kind of small talk. But I also do have to do it safely in a public setting where I can feel safe and the person I talk to can feel safe.

As you can see … small talk even in a public forum like this is a skill we have to learn.

If anything small talk is necessary because it teaches all how to live with one another.

Hey bud, how you doing?

Small talk is even harder in public if you are a big tall brown long haired Native Canadian man like me. I’m older now and I’m fully aware that I intimidate people at first glance. I’m not violent, or do or want to do aggressive things but if you saw me, chances are those are the first impressions that you would see.

In northern Ontario, Caucasian people are familiar with people like me and I can easily talk to most people, especially in rural areas. But if I talk to some young woman, I’m often treated like some kind of monster.

I’ve also been to Europe in Germany, France, Italy and Spain and over there it is even harder for me to conduct small talk … there’s a language barrier and on top of that I look like I do. No matter how modern people can be, there is always a level of racism when people encounter someone who doesn’t look like everyone else they know.

So to me … small talk is a public filter.

If I talk to someone and they don’t want to engage, I move on.

If I talk to someone and they treat me kindly and openly, I’ve met someone who will help me feel more comfortable in this strange world.

This also acts as a public filter

If you small talk with someone and they react positively (or at least don’t treat you weird) … then the person you are small talking to is a decent RECEPTIVE person who is also open to a bit of communication.

If you small talk with someone and they immediately treat you weird, walk away or just don’t want to deal with you … then chances are, it was a good thing you said something to eliminate any negative interaction.

EDIT: changed a word in my phrasing

You’ve doomed us all!

YOU OPENED AN UMBRELLA INSIDE A HOUSE!!!

What everyone glosses over and completely never see.

Is that this idiot represents the entire country.

If you have an idiot for a leader.

Logic says, your country is full of idiots.

Suffering from lifelong signs of chronic syphilis

Then Worf couldn’t admit the truth, let go and fell to his fate into the depths of Deep Space 9 where he was sucked into a Jefferies Tube and fell onto the top of the USS Enterprise